Playground Global

The creator of the Android mobile operating system – and Google’s former robotics czar – is hoping he can help a new generation of entrepreneurs build hardware.

More on Andy Rubin

Andrew E. “Andy” Rubin is the co-founder and former CEO of both Danger Inc. and Android Inc. He was Senior Vice President of Mobile and Digital Content at Google until March 2013, where he oversaw development of Android, an open-source operating system for smartphones. Rubin has seventeen patents for his inventions.

Y Rubin, the former Google whiz that created the Android mobile operating system and headed the company’s nascent efforts in robotics, has revealed his next act: a company that helps nurture startups.

Playground Global

His new company, called Playground Global, is based in Los Altos, Calif., and has raised $48 million, according to a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Playground Global will instead offer advice and inroads in manufacturing to the young companies in exchange for equity, Rubin said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.

Rubin’s got good reason to publicize his Playground Global project.

Silicon Valley has become a hot place for physical hardware projects, after software and Internet companies had driven the market for the last several years.

Companies like smartwatch maker Pebble, home-video surveillance company Dropcam and the smart thermostat maker Nest have grabbed attention from the world’s largest tech companies, inspiring competition and acquisitions.

Google, Hewlett-Packard and venture capital firm Redpoint Ventures are among his backers, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Redpoint and HP confirmed the investment, as did Google, though the Internet giant declined to comment further.

He joined Google in 2005, when the company bought Android to make it the centerpiece of its mobile efforts.

Right before he left Google, he was heading the company’s robotics projects, part of Google’s secretive Google X research lab.

Before working on Android, Rubin ran a company called Danger, which made an advanced cell phone.

(Credits to Richard Nieva)

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